After climbing to new record highs in the previous session, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by less than a tenth of a percent.
Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
Economists currently expect employment to jump by 200,000 jobs in November after inching up by 12,000 jobs in October, while the unemployment rate is expected to tick up to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent.
The jobs data could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy meeting later this month.
While traders have recently expressed greater confidence the Fed will lower rates by another 25 basis points at the December meeting, there remains uncertainty about the likelihood of continued rate cuts at future meetings.
With the monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing a modest increase by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended November 30th.
The report said initial jobless claims rose to 224,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 215,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 215,000 from the 213,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Following the lackluster performance seen during Tuesday’s session, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages all climbed to new record closing highs after ending mixed for two straight days.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way higher, jumping by 254.21 points or 1.3 percent to 19,735.16. The Dow also advanced 308.51 points or 0.7 percent to 45,014.04, while the S&P 500 climbed 36.61 points or 0.6 percent to 6,086.49.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi slid by 0.9 percent.
The major European markets are also narrowly mixed on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.3 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are inching up $0.14 to $68.68 a barrel after tumbling $1.40 to $68.54 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after rising $8.30 to $2,676.20 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are slipping $5.20 to $2,671 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 150.56 yen versus the 150.59 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0554 compared to yesterday’s $1.0511.
Business News
U.S. Stocks May Experience Choppy Trading Ahead Of Monthly Jobs Report
2024-12-05 13:53:25
